


Practice Habits

by Kiiratam



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:49:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23818720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: Weiss and Yang chat about practice habits between bouts.Takes place during Volume 5, between Chapters 8 and 11. (My BMBLB fic index)
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 11
Kudos: 92





	Practice Habits

"Hey snow angel, how come I never hear you singing?"

  
As soon as Weiss could find the energy to raise her head, she was going to glare at Yang _quite_ fiercely. Right now, though, she just had a good view of the courtyard outside the house in Mistral.

  
She dabbed at her forehead with her handkerchief, and managed to ask, in a reasonably level tone. "Snow angel?"

  
Yang's grin sounded in her voice. "Once you manage to knock me down, I'll stop using it."

  
Weiss mumbled some unkind things about the Xiao Long-Rose family in the back of her head. She'd never met Mr. Xiao Long, but she suspected Yang had picked up this _particular_ teaching technique from him. And Ruby shared some of the blame, for making everyone train unarmed techniques. At least Weiss had the consolation of getting to watch Yang beat everyone else up. Especially Ruby, because Yang seemed to know all her tricks.

  
"Well? All the other musicians I know pull out their instruments whenever they've got a moment. But I never hear you humming, or even singing in the shower. If it wasn't for that recital you did, I wouldn't even know you could sing."

  
Weiss managed to look up at Yang. "How come I never saw _you_ studying?"

  
"Ouch. That hurt worse than your delicate little punches. You're worse than Ruby." Before Weiss could get a breath in her to answer _that_ insult, Yang added, in a non-teasing tone, "You've got ice-dancing legs - try some low kicks."

  
Her heels _were_ strengthened to handle the rigors of combat. And even if Weiss hadn't _formally_ learned how to kick, she did have experience with strapping blades to her feet. Maybe Weiss could try to rake her heel down Yang's shin.

  
They squared up again. Without looking up from Crescent Rose, Ruby called from the sidelines, "Kick her butt, Weiss!"

  
Yang's gaze shifted off of Weiss, flickering towards her sister, and she started to say something in reply.

  
Weiss took her chance, bounding forward in a balestra, trying to get inside Yang's reach, raising her leading foot to stomp down the length of Yang's shin -

  
And somehow, Yang's leg wasn't there anymore, but was hooked around the back of Weiss' stomping foot, and pulling -

  
Before Weiss could hit the ground, Yang had caught one of her flailing arms. "Sneaky!" She pulled Weiss back upright. "Go for my foot next time. You'll telegraph less."

  
Several exhausting minutes later, Weiss was back to staring at the courtyard, trying to breathe.

  
"And I read the study guides you wrote." Yang picked up their conversation from the last break. Her voice only got a little bit rougher as she said, "I didn't actually go to the study sessions you and Blake ran, but I _did_ read the study guides."

  
Weiss wasn't sure if she wanted to go any farther into this. Talking about their missing team mate always seemed to unbalance Yang. And for all Weiss wanted to be free of the 'snow angel' moniker, she wasn't so ruthless as to try to exploit that to gain an advantage in practice bouts. She didn't want to actually hurt her friend. Aura only protected the body.

  
She caught her breath enough to ask, "How were your grades always so good?" Weiss had been immensely proud of the fact that RWBY always led the class, so far as test scores went. And as much as she despaired at Yang's casual attitude towards homework, Yang had been right up there with the rest of RWBY whenever scores were posted. And there had been so much else for Weiss to worry about, she wasn't going to question it. But she'd always been curious. And it wasn't like it really mattered anymore.

  
"What, like it's hard?"

  
Weiss raised her head to give her friend a disbelieving look, trying to add up all the numbers, give Yang an average of how many hours she'd spent each week throwing herself into schoolwork back at Beacon.

  
Yang snorted. "I'm just messing with you." She glanced at the sidelines, where Ruby and everyone else were discussing theory. "Tell you what, I'll tell you my studying secret if you tell me why you don't sing casually."

  
It wasn't like it was a _secret_ , exactly. Weiss sighed, and said, "I want people to hear the song as it was meant to be sung. Not all my mistakes in practice."

  
"Product, not the process?"

  
"Exactly. It's different for combat training, because there are so many more variables. And we need to train as a team, and we can't control our opponents." Weiss was starting to breathe normally again. Almost ready for their next bout.

  
Yang was nodding. "But you can actually have a perfect aria performance." She grinned. "And you always do, from what I saw."

  
"Thank you." Weiss had been hearing gushing compliments about her performances for years. Very few of them had felt at all genuine. She tried to fix the moment in her mind, the cool breeze on her skin and the warm feeling in her heart. "But don't think you're going to get out of telling me your studying trick."

  
"Um, well." Yang stuck her hand behind her head. "I don't think it'll really help you much."

  
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Because we've got so many tests in the coming weeks. I don't want studying advice, I'm just curious."

  
"I've got a really good memory."

  
"As in, photographic?" Weiss knew Ruby could process mathematical equations very quickly - particularly when it came to accurate long-range fire. Ruby also made a handy calculator when Weiss didn't want to get her scroll out. It wouldn't unduly surprise her to learn that Yang's brain was similarly impressive.

  
"Not really. I mean, I don't remember absolutely everything, but if I want to remember something, it just... _sticks_ , you know?"

  
Weiss didn't, but it also didn't seem that Yang would be able to offer any clearer of an explanation. She also didn't want to ask how well Yang remembered things she _didn't_ want to. So it was back to unarmed combat training. Much safer.

  
Yang seemed to pick up on her mood, because she said, "Footwork time. Let's see how bouncy you can get."


End file.
